The Twelve Days of Ooo
by Wolfie-V
Summary: In the run up to Christmas, we are all probably running around, getting presents, meeting family, etc. But did you ever wonder what the people living in Ooo did? 12 One-shots (or are they?) centered around the people in Ooo in the 12 days before Christmas. Will attempt to update daily. Enjoy! Rated K
1. On the First Day of Christmas

**You want snow with that?**

A year had passed since Jake dug up those old tapes, and the Day of Watching Films had come around again for Finn and Jake. Finn had found a bunch of coloured papers in the treehouse, and he was hanging the colours around the main room using bits of woods from the forest. Jake was in the kitchen with Lady Rainicorn baking a cake for the films later on, while Marceline and Princess Bubblegum were out looking for some more films to watch. They had seen all of the Ice King's diary films, and since he refused to make more purely for their entertainment they had had to look for pre-war films out in the desert of doom – although Princess Bubblegum disapproved of the start-up copyright notices at the start. Finn had just put up the last piece of paper above the fire when Jake came into the room with a steaming hot cake. Lady followed him, looking at her husband lovingly.

"'Sup Jake, you finished the cake?" Finn asked, stepping down off of the stack of books he was standing on.

"You bet, bro, and it looks delicious! Hey, guess what I put in it!" Jake said, his tail wagging with joy.

"Uh…eggs? Flour? Butter? Sugar?" Finn said, confused.

"He he, yup! But I meant, like, the filling part."

"Oh. No idea."

"I put Ice-cream at the centre!"

Jake stared up at Finn's face for approval, but Finn just looked on in confusion.

"Won't that melt in the hot cake?"

Jake's smile faltered a little, but his grin still remained. "Well, yeah, but it'll still taste like ice-cream!"

Lady said something in Korean, and Jake nodded. "Yeah, I know! It's gonna taste SO GOOD!"

Lady gave Jake a kiss on the nose, and Jake blushed. Finn looked down at his feet, feeling a little awkward. Jake coughed gently, and looked back up at Finn.

"Anyway, you finished with the decorations yet?"

"Almost. We just need the snow part to make it like last year."

Jake looked out the window. "Yeah, snow WOULD make it better, but it's not like you're the king of ice now, is it? There's only one guy who can bring the snow, dude, and you know it."

"Yeah…" said Finn, disappointed.

As if right on cue, Ice King burst through the window, sending glass everywhere.

"Not again Ice King! I thought we agreed that you'd use the door this year!"

Ice King grinned. "Yeah, sorry, I messed up. It's become a habit now, you know, what with me living here for a few months and all, because you, and her and…yeah…" Ice King trailed off, and, seeing Finn looking at the floor in embarrassment, changed the subject. "Anyway, I brought something for the film night this year. Hold on…"

Ice King brought out a bag and rummaged around for a bit, before bringing out an object covered by a cloth.

"What is it?" Jake asked, looking at the object.

"Come closer and I'll show you Jake…he he he…"

Jake walked over to the Ice King, and suddenly Ice King's hand moved and Jake felt something cold hit his nose. He fell backwards in surprise.

"What the heck was that?" Jake asked, wiping his nose. Ice King laughed loudly.

"HA HA HA! Jake, you got hit by my magic snow circles!"

Finn looked up. "Don't you mean a snowball?"

Ice King looked put-out. "No. A magic snow circle."

Finn opened his mouth to reply, and one of the Ice King's 'magic snow circles' hit him full in the mouth. He swallowed some, and nearly choked, but luckily the snow melted before that happened.

"Hey dude, if you want a fight, at least give us snow to fight with." Jake said, patting Finn on the back.

"Naw, it's more fun this way!" Ice King said, whipping up another two snowballs in his hands. But before he had a chance to throw them, Finn had grabbed his yellow sword and pointed the sharp end at Ice King, who promptly dropped the snow on the floor.

"Ok ok! I'll make it snowy again."

He flew up to the roof, and began to whirl his arms around his head. Jake thought a bit, and said "Wait, don't do it in here!"

But he said it too late. Before long, the entire house was freezing cold and snowy. The cake was on the floor and snowy, the fire was out, and the papers Finn had spent so long organising were scattered.

"Oh great. That was a waste of time." said Jake.

Ice King landed, and crossed his arms. "Well, you wanted snow, and I gave you snow!"

Lady gave Ice King a LOOK which made him falter.

"Fine, I'll get rid of it."

There was no movement for a couple of minutes, then the snow began to seep out of the broken window slowly. Finn looked back at the Ice King.

"Well?" he said, crossing his arms.

"I'm sorry! There's too much snow to move it quicker!"

Finn rolled his eyes, while Jake picked up with cake from the floor.

"It's getting pretty late…the girls will be here soon…" Finn said. "There's not enough time to get rid of the snow. We'll just have to-"

"YIPPEE!" Jake yelled as he cut the cake with his hand as a knife. Finn stared at his brother in confusion.

"Wha-"

"THE ICE CREAM THING WORKED!"

"Wha-"

"IT'S COLD AGAIN!"

Finn went over the cake which was indeed ice-cream filled.

"It must have been the snow. Ice King, you actually did something right!"

Ice King looked taken aback. "I…I did? I did! Totally meant to do that, yeah!"

Just at that moment, Marceline came in.

"'Sup babies! Found a film – something called 'Twilight?'" Marceline said, holding a film. She turned it over. "I don't know how good it'll be…but it's something, right?"

"Hey Marceline. Where's PB?" Finn asked, clearing some snow off the floor to create seating space.

"Oh, she went back to the candy kingdom to get some warmer clothes. But she said to start the film anyway." Marceline looked around, and saw BMO in the corner with a cup of hot chocolate.

"Yo BMO, we're ready to watch the movie now!"

"Is it time already? I am looking forward to what you have found Marceline!"

Marceline smiled. "Ok, ok, here we go. Ready everyone?"

Jake handed out his ice-cream cake to everyone, and they settled down in front to BMO's screen. When Princess Bubblegum came in later, she had brought marshmallows and wood to make another fire with, as well as a special red cake for Marceline to eat. And as the opening credits started, Finn looked around the group of people, and smiled. It was great to be with his family and friends once again.


	2. On the Second Day of Christmas

**The warm glow of fire**

**WARNING Gentle Flinn shipping.**

Flame Princess sat on her throne. Her black dress lay on the floor next to her, and she was wearing a loose orange T-shirt and white shorts. The dress was itchy anyway. She sighed, and looked around the room. It was empty of all her subjects, since her right-hand Cinnamon Bun had evacuated the room for her. As her kingdom was run on the truth only, she had been receiving a bunch of rude letters from anonymous subjects who were against her new rule and wanted her father back on the throne. She just wanted to be alone for a while, and she wasn't in the mood to tell the truth lightly. Luckily for her, Cinnamon Bun was perfectly capable of telling the people to leave in a way that WOULDN'T start a riot.

"Well well well. Looks like my daughter wasn't as good at ruling the kingdom as she thought." Flame King sneered from his glass prison.

Flame Princess' fist curled and her fingernails dug into her palm. No, she thought, she would NOT flare up in front of him. It was just what he wanted. Instead, she turned to her father with a look of calm on her face.

"That's funny, last time I checked I had more loyal subjects than you ever did. Didn't they join ME and overthrow YOU?"

Flame King (or ex-king) was silenced by that. Flame Princess turned back to the empty hall and lay in the chair, her feet on the arm of the throne in a very un-princess like manner.

"I messed up again, didn't I?" she addressed the empty room.

"Yup." her father said, but FP either didn't hear or chose to ignore it.

Just at that moment Cinnamon Bun walked in. He had cast Flame Shield on himself once more, but even so he had chosen to wear a woollen scarf around his neck.

"Hey Princess." he said, and promptly waved at her. FP looked up with a lonely look, and acknowledged him with a raise of the hand, as was custom.

"You look sad." he said, and walked over to the flame princess.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just…thinking about things."

"Yeah heh. I was talking to my doggy. He's a good doggy. Ha ha ha ha."

Flame princess smiled a weak smile at the bun. He was a bit…overcooked, but he had a heart of gold.

"I was just thinking about how I miss seeing the other kingdoms. You know, the candy kingdom, the Ice Kingdom. And all the other places I used to go. The scary dark forest, the…grasslands…"

Flame Princess trailed off, and looked back at the floor. Cinnamon Bun looked at her with a look of pity.

"Uh, friend I don't know much about things 'cept for my doggy, but you sound really sad. Maybe you should go outside more."

Flame Princess' neck snapped up and looked at the bun. "You know…maybe that's a good idea."

She stood up and brushed herself down, and after smiling at Cinnamon Bun, she walked out the door of the palace.

She walked down the cliff road towards the forest, and shivered. She didn't think that was even possible – maybe it was a reflex from her adventuress days with Finn. She had often seen him shiver, and then she would put her arm around his shoulder and warm his back. She sighed, and walked into the forest. It was nice, peaceful, even if a little dark. As she wandered through the forest, she looked around. There were many small flowers lining the path she was walking down, and she blushed at the memory that she burned them in her naivety. She shivered again. Something was most definitely up now, and it wasn't only a practised reflex. Fire elementals had no need to shiver – after all, their fiery bodies kept them at a 100 degree heat at least. She looked up, and with horror saw that it was beginning to snow. She started to panic – there was no telling how far she had wandered between her kingdom and here, and there was no guarantee that she would reach the fire kingdom in time. So, instead of looking for shelter, she did the most stupid thing she could have thought to do. She ran into an open clearing. Where she could be hit by the snow. And be injured. She was, in fact, attempting to reach a certain building which she knew was in this forest somewhere, and was hoping that this clearing had the house in it. She was wrong, and in hindsight, it would have been more sensible to wait under a tree until the storm was over before checking.

She was nearly at the other side of the clearing when the first flakes hit her. They melted as soon as the hit her, and the water hissed as it hit her. It was painful, and FP sucked in cold air, which incidentally was also quite painful. She stood still with shock, and only moved when the pain of other flakes hit her body.

"I knew this was a bad idea" FP lied to herself as she sprinted across the already frozen ground. Finally, she reached a tree on the opposite side of the clearing. As she did, she checked herself over for injury. Her fire clothing was ripped in several places from the damp snow, although her skin managed to escape unscathed. Her feet felt like they were melting off her body, and the snow had already begun to settle and was melting all over her bare feet. She felt like screaming, but instead decided that this would attract a predator or another unwanted creature, so she ran through the trees, hoping to find the house. Snow kept falling, and her vision was darkening. The only thing which prevented her from passing out was the fear of death should she stop moving. Just when she thought she would die out here, she came across another clearing. She anxiously ran into it and saw, with relief, the small house she had been looking for. Taking as much care as she could, she ran towards it, and knocked on the iron handle of the door so as not to burn the wooden planks. The door opened, and she thankfully passed out on the doormat.

When she awoke, she was laying on a piece of tin foil with flames licking around her feet. For a moment, she thought that she was in her own bed, but then she saw the stone walls surrounding her except for the entrance hole. She recognised this as a fireplace, and as she looked out she saw the kind eyes of the elderly elephant and the pink pig which resided in this house.

"How are you feeling, Flame princess?" TT asked her, with genuine concern in her face. "It was getting…gnarly out there."

"I agree. You could have been seriously injured." Mr Pig added.

"Thank you. You really saved me back there." FP said, smiling warmly at the couple.

"Yes well, I made you an apple pie. We were just celebrating the winter when you fainted in our doorway."

"Yeah, sorry." Flame princess said, blushing as she made her way out of the fireplace. There was a large piece of foil at the entrance to the fireplace, which she gratefully sat on. She looked at them properly this time, and saw that Tree Trunks was wearing a red scar which covered her mouth and the beginning of her trunk, while Mr Pig was wearing a green jumper. "You…celebrate winter?"

"Oh yes, it is the time when we celebrate the end of the yer. And" Mr Pig said, snuggling close to TT "the relationship we have."

FP looked at the floor, feeling sad once more. She wondered if Finn celebrated winter as well.

The couple saw it, and felt pity for the fire girl. TT gave her the pie, which she gratefully took.

"How about you celebrate it with us?" Tree Trunks said, and FP looked up eagerly.

"I would like that, thank you." Flame Princess said, and began to 'eat' the pie. Maybe she would ask if they could do this every year.

It felt nice, having people who would look after you and care for you. Maybe this was why they celebrated winter – to love and to feel love. Back in the Fire Kingdom, there was no room for such things as love and kindness, and for the second time in her life Flame Princess really relaxed and felt compassion towards people she knew loved her back.

"Merry Winter, Tree Trunks and Mr Pig. Merry Winter." she said, and the couple grinned back at the girl. Yup, FP thought, it felt good.


	3. On the Third day of Christmas

**Dear Diary…**

"Gunther! Gunther, where are you?"

Ice King walked through his bedroom, wearing (awkwardly) nothing but his pants. He threw the duvet off his bed, and threw it against the wall.

"Dang it, Gunther! Give me my magical crown back!"

He bent underneath the bed, and saw nothing except for dust and the occasional frozen spider.

"Gunther! This is NOT funny anymore!"

From a distance, Ice King heard the familiar noise of his chief penguin. It echoed down the hallways of his castle.

"Gunther, it's time you gave daddy's crown back, or else you get the squirty-squirts again"

The quacking of the penguin came again, but higher-pitched this time, and accompanying it was the sound of padding footsteps. Ice King sprinted out the door and promptly slipped over on his bottom, sliding down the icy staircase.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" Ice King said as he hit every step on the way down. Without his crown, he could not avoid the slippery surface of his own palace.

He slid all the way down to the very basement of his palace, where the 'past room' was. He made to open the door, and instead missed and crashed straight through it. He came to an abrupt halt as he crashed into a car bonnet, and his diary floated down from his desk. Paper flew everywhere.

"What's this? A photo and writing?"

Ice King picked up the paper, and began to read.

_Dear Diary_

_Well, it's Christmas once more. Just think, last year I was sitting around my own table, with a turkey and stuffing, mince pies and cream, and most importantly, my Betty. Ah, we did have a lot of fun didn't we? She always did laugh at my jokes and her laugh was…entrancing. I can't believe that I was only 40 then, and happy. Now though, I look like an old fool. A silly, silly old fool who is losing his mind with every day that passes me by. In that one short year, I lost my one true love, my home, my family, my town, and my sanity. In this post-apocalyptic now, there is nothing. No people, no food, no civilisation. _

_The only light in my life is Marceline. She is so sweet, and her smile is so much like Betty's was. It feels strange to see her smile on a young child, even a demonic one. I pretend I haven't noticed; if she wanted me to know about it, she would have told me. She keeps me sane, anyway. I wonder if she has ever known Christmas like I remember it, with my mum and dad seated in front of the fire around the table. If only I could get her a gift in amongst the rubble._

_I really want to give Marceline the gift of Christmas, but I don't know how. All I could find in the way of food was the leftover deer I hid away, and that's hardly a turkey now. I wanted to make a tree for her too, so I found a camping spot not too far in the forest where I know there is a pine tree. Hopefully I can find something like tinsel. Of course, I could always give her a white Christmas and make it snow, but I really don't want to put that crown on again. My sanity has already changed too much. _

_It's just the gift that's puzzling me. A year ago, children Marceline's age would want some sort of electronic gadget – a tablet or some such thing. But those don't exist anymore, and Marceline has never heard of them anyway._

_No, what this little girl wants is much simpler. She just wants a toy to play with – preferably something soft. I found her a teddy when I first met her – but it's hardly the prettiest thing, and she named it 'Hambo'. She keeps saying that she wants 'a friend for Hambo', but that toy shop is long gone – taken over by zombies soon after I got Hambo. _

_It's a shame – I can give her as much of a Christmas as I can, but I could never find or make a teddy in time. _

_Ah well, I can give her everything else at least, and maybe even some company. Christmas is celebrated it a few day time, but I may not even be sane then. I hope I can give her the company she needs._

Ice King looked up, confused. Mince Pie? What was that? He turned the paper over, and saw a photo of a man with long white hair and a long blue nose, his arm around a small girl with black hair. He was smiling, but it seemed slightly forced. They were standing next to a small-ish pine tree with vines wrapped around it, and sitting atop the tree was a large ball of yellow string, the threads of it dangling over the tree branches. The little girl was smiling in obvious joy, and from her hand dangled a pink soft toy – slightly worn and the purple button eyes hanging by a thread. Ice King looked back to the paper, and for some reason he started welling up, frozen tears falling down his face. In confusion, he wiped the tears away. He didn't feel sad – so why did he cry so?

Ice King stood up, and tucked the entry in his pocket. Looking around the past room, his eyes fell on a bedraggled bear toy, the faded brown eyes smiling out at him from beneath a plastic shopping bag and a pile of ripped paper. Ice King picked up the bear, and brushed it off. This he put in his pocket too, and absent-mindedly he walked up out of the past room and out into the kingdom.

Marceline looked out of the window. Winter celebrations should start in a few days. She floated over to the kitchen and played a few chords on her guitar. Suddenly, Ice King burst in, almost naked.

"Urgh! Simon, what-"

"Marceline, I have something for you."

Marceline cocked her head, and floated over to the Ice King, curious.

"What is it?"

"Here, it's in my pocket somewhere…ah! Got it!"

Ice King pulled out the bear, and as he did the diary entry fell to the floor.

"This is for you."

Marceline took the bear, and tears welled up. Picking up the diary entry, she realised that this was from the time when Simon, as he was, brought her the joy of the winter celebrations – or 'Christmas'. It was the best time she had had in her life, and in all that time she had never realised that Simon had meant to get her a gift…

And now, he finally had…

Marceline gave a sob, and threw her arms around the Ice King's neck. Ice King was very confused, but for some reason unknown to him, he also felt the tears of joy and he returned the hug.

"Thank you, Simon." Marceline said through the tears.

"You're welcome, Marceline." Simon replied through the thick beard and mind of the Ice King.

**A/N: Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry for forgetting to upload this on the 16****th****! To make up for it, I will upload two one-shots (including this) either today (17****th****) or tomorrow (18****th****). Again, so sorry, been busy with exams. Thank you for your patience!**

**Wolfie-V (hanging their head in embarrassment.)**


	4. On the Fourth day of Christmas

**How to make a Christmas dinner fail**

"It's no good. No good!" she screamed down the hall. Peppermint butler ran towards the lab, and thrust open the door.

"What's wrong, Princess?" he said, unable to keep the note of anxiety out of his voice.

"Huh?"

Princess Bubblegum sat up from the floor, rubbing her head. She was surrounded by pieces of bread, chocolate, flour, eggs and various other ingredients. Peppermint made as if to go in, then stopped as he nearly slipped over on a packet of butter.

"Um, Princess? What's going on? Shall I call Finn and Jake? Was there a raid?"

"No, no, nothing like that." the Princess said, standing up and brushing food off her lab. coat. "I was simply attempting to make the best meal to celebrate winter possible. Marceline told me some recipes from when people before the war celebrated winter, and I thought that I could make something from it, so I could bring it to the annual celebration…as you can see it didn't work…"

Princess Bubblegum looks down at the messy laboratory in embarrassment. Peppermint Butler felt awkward – despite being a multi-summoner of demons from the fifth dimension and beyond, he still felt sorry for the immortal 18 year old.

"Here, Princess, let me clean up in here. Maybe if you call Marceline she can give you some pointers on how to make these dishes?"

Princes Bubblegum hesitated. She hated to admit she was in trouble – she much preferred to think through the problem on her own without aid – especially not from Marceline. Sure, they were on good enough terms now, but the vampire queen would definitely take this opportunity to mock the scientist princess. There was no way she would pass it up. But…she did need help with the cooking. There was ONE person she could call who could cook though…

"Ok Peppermint. If you clean up in here, I'll call for help."

Peppermint Butler grinned. That was the princess he knew.

A few minutes later, Princess Bubblegum was in the kitchens with Lady Rainicorn.

"So, you've read these recipes before?"

Lady nodded her head and smiled. She had asked the vampire queen for these recipes long before Princess Bubblegum had even got her hands on them, and had long since mastered them.

She asked Princess Bubblegum if this was even possible, and princess Bubblegum shrugged.

"I don't know. But surely it's worth a shot, huh? I mean, think of how much everyone will enjoy it if it works! Everyone loved Jake's ice-cream cake, after all!"

Lady sighed. They only liked the cake because it had been chilled by the snow, and the recipe had been adapted from one of Lady's anyway.

"Anyway, I have some preliminaries, but I need my chemicals to make it work. Be back in a minute Lady!"

With that, Princess Bubblegum left the room. Lady looked through the recipes that Bubblegum had, and with a shock she realised that the vampire queen had played a rather tasteless prank on her friend. For instance, the recipe for stuffing a turkey was:

_Take one turkey_

_Fill it with candy_

_Put it in the oven (include feathers for extra taste_

Lady grabbed the turkey from the side, and looked inside it. Luckily, it had not been, er, filled with candy yet. Lady instead filled it with a series of spices and herbs, before putting it in the oven, and beginning to cook it. She then cooked the other ingredients – potatoes, etc. By the time Princess Bubblegum got back, a sweet smell of cooking had filled the kitchen.

"Lady?"

Lady turned to the Bubblegum Princess, and smiled.

"Did you…cook the food?"

Lady nodded.

"Ok good, now we need to add the chemicals to merge the food together."

Lady shook her head, but Princess Bubblegum had already taken the turkey out and poured a blue chemical all over it. The skin of the turkey shrivelled, and before anything further could happen, Princess poured a green chemical all over the sides. Turning back, Princess Bubblegum found that the Turkey had shrunk to a quarter of its normal size, and appeared to be melting. The sides were doing much the same.

"What? This…wasn't supposed to happen!" Princess Bubblegum shrieked, and Lady picked up the turkey with and exclamation of horror. For now the turkey was bright red and liquefied. Lady dropped the plate and the china smashed, sending the red juice everywhere. It soaked through the floor and a bad smell seeped through the tiles. Princess Bubblegum and Lady ran out and coughed in the hall, slamming the door shut behind them. At this point, Peppermint Butler had finished cleaning the lab and ran to see what had happened now.

"Princess! Princess! OH! What is that terrible smell, Princess?"

Lady couldn't speak for coughing, and princess Bubblegum managed to say

"The experiment…went…a little wrong…"

The two women looked at each other and burst out laughing. Peppermint Butler sighed and shook his head. Sometimes he wished that his princess wasn't so…eccentric, but it was moments like this that made him smile about his job.

"So, er…about the meal…"

Lady stopped laughing enough to tell him that she would be cooking the winter celebration meal that year, and to peppermint Butler it seemed that the whole of Ooo breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how good a scientist his Princess was, she would never be a good cook.

**A/N: So, this is the chapter for the 17th December. Again, sorry for forgetting to upload yesterday's chapter - it's up now, and I'm back on track. Check back tomorrow for the fifth day of Christmas!**

**NEWS: The one-shot for the twelfth day of Christmas is the best one of the lot, and is on a very special topic. A slice of Jake's Ice Cream Cake for anyone who can guess what it is about! Hint: It is similar to an episode of Adventure Time that is seasonal at the moment :)**


	5. On the Fifth day of Christmas

**Family Bonding.**

Marceline floated in her living room, strumming several chords on her guitar. She attempted to think of song lyrics to express exactly how she was feeling. It was getting cold out, and she felt really…emotional, somehow, but unlike usual, the words weren't flowing correctly and all she was coming up with was junk.

"Uh, this is USELESS!" she yelled at no-one in particular, and went to throw her axe-bass but stopped herself just in time. She brought the bass back down and played a low chord. She sighed loudly. What was it? Was it the time of year? Or, was it something else?

Her door swung open, and Marceline leapt backwards with a hiss. There was no-one at the door.

"Pfft. Must've been the wind." Marceline said, unsure whether she was stated the obvious, or re-assuring herself. There was a 'swish' noise from the door, and Marceline felt her hair stand up on end. Her vamparic senses were painfully aware of the fact that someone else was in the room.

SOMEONE WHO WASN'T INVITED.

Marceline pricked up her ears, and sniffed. The figure was over by the sofa. Strangely, it seemed to be sitting ON the sofa. Marceline crept over to the couch, and threw a well-aimed punch at the air space above the pillows. There was a muffled gasp, and slowly the figure came into view. Black arms appeared, gradually becoming navy blue, and a suit materialising between the arms. Marceline gasped in shock as she recognised the man sitting on HER COUCH in HER HOUSE as her own father!

"Dad…you'd better have a good explanation of this or I'm gonna flip OUT!" Marceline yelled, readying another fist above his head. Hunsen laughed, and swatted the fist away.

"Marceline, I didn't come to FIGHT you! I came to celebrate with you!"

Marceline stepped back in confusion. "What?"

Hunsen laughed and stood up, brushing his suit down. "Remember last time you went to the Nightosphere? Well, I have made a few…changes…and now, I rule with slightly LESS chaos, and slightly more…well…listening…to the demons…"

Marceline cocked her head, and pondered this. Sure, this didn't SEEM like much, but for the dictatorship her father ran this was surely the most radical change he had made in over 1000 years. Even though, she still was wary. Why would he sneak up in her own house to tell her that?

"Well, that wasn't why I came, Marceline." Marceline jumped, not realising that she had said the last part out loud.

"No, I came to celebrate the winter festivities with you!"

Marceline nearly fainted with shock.

"So let me get this straight. You, the evil overlord of the demonic underworld have visited your emotionally unstable vampire queen daughter to what? Have dinner?"

"Yep, pretty much." Hunsen said, displaying his sharp teeth at his daughter in a twisted kind of smile.

"O…K…" she replied.

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well, consider me surprised."

Hunsen and Marceline stared at each other in an awkward silence for a couple of minutes, before both tried to talk at once.

"So what-"

"What about-"

Marceline blushed, and Hunsen laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.

"Um…" Marceline said.

"Well, how would you like to come back to my kingdom for…um…dinner?" Hunsen said, attempting once more to reach out to Marceline.

Marceline considered, before saying "Yeah, ok. But no funny business, all right?"

"Marceline, when have I ever-"

Hunsen stopped at the memory of inviting his daughter over for 'dinner' and forcing dictatorship of the Nightosphere on her.

"Oh. I promise I won't do that."

Marceline relaxed slightly. She could always escape, anyway.

"Ok. I'll go."

Hunsen smiled. "Excellent!"

At that, the room turned a black colour, and once the light returned to the room it was from the soft glow of the candles and small fires. Marceline was seated at one end of a square table, while Hunsen sat at the other end with a (rather large, Marceline admitted to herself silently) red demon.

They sat in silence for little more than an hour, while the two were brought meal after meal. After the first three courses, Marceline found that she was full, and gave some of her food to the demons who served her. Hunsen then cleared his throat, and stood up.

"Marceline, I have something to give you."

"Dad, you didn't have to." Marceline said, blushing slightly.

"Marceline, I did. You see, I realise that strumming that…bass…you love so much must hurt your fingers, and I got you something to help."

Hunsen reached out and gave Marceline a red box. Marceline opened the box lid, keeping one eye on her father, and revealed a small guitar pick. She said nothing, but she knew that she didn't need a pick. Her fingers were full of callouses that kept her fingers from getting cut, and besides, she didn't use picks very often. But it was a very kind gesture, one which showed that her father listens. She felt herself welling up with tears, and quickly wiped them away.

"Dad…thank you."

Hunsen smiled – this time, a true genuine smile. Marceline couldn't help but smile back. It was nice to finally feel some sort of bond between her father and herself.


	6. On the Sixth day of Christmas

**Gift Wrapping Time**

**WARNING: Pairing included in this chapter. I won't tell you the pairing, because it will spoil it. **

Finn sat in the kitchen of the treehouse, holding an orb-like shape. Beside him was a pair of rusting scissors, and a long roll of old newspapers. He was cutting up squares of the newspaper (badly – it kept tearing) and attempting to fold it around the orb so that it stayed put. But each time he tried, it simply sprung back open or ripped in half – unusable for this purpose. He was patient for the first two or three attempts, but after a while he grew frustrated and cross with the wrapping process. After the twelfth failed attempt, he threw the paper against the wall where it fell limply to the floor and tore in half. Jake walked into the room, eating a sandwich.

"Yo, Finn, what's up?" he said, taking a huge bite from the sandwich.

"I'm trying to wrap up this gift in the paper, but it's not working!"

Jake looked at him with a 'knowing' look.

"Finn, how do you expect it to stick down without something sticky?"

Finn hit his face with the palm of his hand. "Oh, why didn't I think of that?"

Jake giggled, and brought over a tube of glue.

"Hey, where'd you get that?"

"Um. I was also wrapping gifts. He he."

Jake walked over to Finn and sat down next to him. Finn turned to his brother.

"Wait, who were you getting a gift for?"

"Oh, lots of people. Lady and my pups, Marceline, PB, etc. etc."

Jake handed his brother the glue, and Finn unscrewed the lid.

"So…did you get one for…I don't know…me?"

Jake nearly chocked on his sandwich.

"Of course, buddy! You KNOW I got you something!"

Finn dropped the glue, and grabbed each of Jake's joules with each hand.

"What did you get me, dude! I MUST KNOW!"

Jake laughed, in a slightly evil tone.

"Nope, not gonna tell you dude! It's a surprise."

Finn began to shake the joules and Jake tried to swipe Finn's hands away, but his fists were like iron.

"Cut it out, dude!"

"Not until you tell me what you got!"

"Dude!"

"JAKE I MUST KNOW!"

Suddenly, Finn withdrew his hands. He turned back to his present and began to wrap the orb once more, this time using the tube of glue. Jake rubbed his joules, and turned to Finn.

"Hey what gives, man? Why'd you stop?"

Finn giggled. "Chill, man! It's your secret, you keep it. I can wait a few days."

Jake picked up the sandwich that he had dropped, and went closer to Finn.

"Hey, what's the gift that you're wrapping? Who's it for?"

Finn turned red, and covered his face. He quickly turned over the name tag that had a name written on it.

"It's…nothing…for…no-one…"

"Come on, man, I don't buy THAT. You clearly have something to wrap up."

Finn turned an even brighter shade of red, and sighed. He unpeeled the hastily-stuck down paper and revealed the orb. It was bright red, and had small flecks of blue on the surface. The surface in question seemed to be translucent, and inside was a molten core. It pulsed and sprayed jets of light blue against the inside of the orb's surface.

"Woah, man. What is that?"

Finn turned to Jake. His face was redder than it had been on that quest for the armour of Zeldaron they went on a couple of years ago.

"Remember that thing we…I…found in the dungeon I went on with…with Flame Princess?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, after we…um…broke up…I…I…I burnt it."

Jake fell over in surprise. He hadn't remembered this!

"When WAS this dude?"

"The same day. I was angry. At myself."

"Oh. Right. So…"

Jake waved his arm at the orb, which was glowing a soft yellow.

"Oh, right." Finn laughed nervously. "Well, after I burned it, it solidified and became this."

Jake sat back upright. "So, who you gonna give it too?"

Finn blushed an even deeper red (Jake didn't think this was possible).

"Um…"

Jake laughed and gave his brother a friendly punch in the shoulder. "OH! So, it's for a new lady friend, eh?" Jake raised his eyebrows repeatedly, and Finn shoved him back, grinning.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't pry. It's your private life, anyway."

Jake Got up, having finished the sandwich, and made as if to leave. In the doorway, he stopped, and turned back to Finn.

"By the way Finn, your gift is really cool. I admit, I'm kinda jealous."

Jake left, and Finn jumped up and ran out the door. No way was he gonna let Jake say that and get away with it!

As Finn ran out, the name tag drifted to the floor. It landed right-side up, the name showing to the whole world who the gift was for. Not that anyone was in the room, but still, the name would be sure to cause confusion with whoever did see it. For at Christmas, we should forgive those who have wronged against us, and in turn we should attempt to make up for what we have done wrong the year that passed. For the name tag read one name, and one name alone.

"_Flame Princess"._


	7. On the Seventh Day of Christmas

**Deck the halls with nuclear baubles**

"Yo PB, where d'ya want this?"

Princess Bubblegum turned to the owner of the voice, Finn the human. She was wearing a pale pink dress which stopped at her mid-thigh, and she wore a pair of reddish-pink tights with a criss-cross pattern on them. Her hair was done up in twin bunches that lay all the way down her back. Finn himself was holding a long string, which, at regular intervals, had a small glass canister with different coloured light-moths. PB smiled, and pointed to the table in the centre of the hall.

"Hang them above that, Finn."

"Ok. JAKE!" Finn yelled, and the yellow dog (who had been sleeping on top of the table) sat up sleepily.

"You don't need to yell, man. I'm right here."

Finn smiled slyly. "I know. But, since you haven't helped ONE BIT, even though Peebles and I have been working really hard, I figured that you needed some punishment at least-"

Finn was cut off as the lazy dog launched himself at Finn's face. PB shook her head and turned back to the tree in the corner. Silly boys! Always getting into trouble. She stood back from the tree and put her hands on her hips. Yup, it's a tree.

She turned back to the boys, about to ask for a hand with the decorations for the tree, and stopped as she saw the boys in an all-out fight on the floor on the hall.

"BOYS! Stop!" she yelled, using her more authoritative voice which echoed all around the castle.

Finn and Jake froze mid-fight. Somehow, Jake's leg was in Finn's mouth, and Finn's arms were bent strangely underneath Jake's body.

"Listen, guys, I need you to go get that box in the corner and bring it to me. Is that ok?"

Finn stood up, letting Jake's leg go as he did, while Jake stood up and rubbed the pinkish-coloured bite mark on his leg, giving Finn the evil eye.

"Sure, no probs PB" Fin said, and walked over to the corner. As he picked up the box he peeped inside, and saw a whole load of shiny stuff. Jake followed Finn and looked in the box as well. He reached in and picked out an almost fluorescent star. Holding it up to the light, the star literally glowed, and a circular spotlight appeared on the opposite wall from the star's shine.

"PB, why do you HAVE all this stuff?" Finn said as he pulled out a blue-ish sphere. This also glowed, but instead of glowing when light was poured onto it, it seemed to glow from its own fuel source.

PB smiled. "Well, I have been around for a while, so I, you know, built up a large collection."

Jake walked over to the tree with the box, and pulled out a fluffy-looking string. But when Jake touched it, it was slightly prickly.

"So, what's this?" he said, holding it at arm's length with a wary look on his face.

"That's called 'tinsel'. In olden times, it was used as decoration to replicate snow. I thought that I would use it too, since I found it in the basement."

Finn pulled out some blue 'tinsel'. "But…but…SNOW ISN'T BLUE!"

"Yeah, but it looks nice, right?" PB said, taking the tinsel from both of them. "Now, what I want you to do it throw it on the tree."

"Like…this?" Finn said, and took some red tinsel before throwing it hap-hazardly onto the tree. It fell to the lowest branches and dangled on the floor, spraying pine needles everywhere.

"No, that's not what I meant-" PB started to say, but was stopped by Jake throwing more tinsel onto the tree the same way. Pine needles showered the three, and PB gave the two a glare. The tree was almost bare now, and the only decoration on it was the tinsel draped around the bottom branches.

"Oops." Jake said. PB sighed in exasperation.

"Well, did you at least find the star?"

Jake pulled out the shining star, which once more lit up as if it enjoyed doing so.

"This?" he said, looking at it. "Why does it glow so much?"

PB giggled. "I infused it with stardust."

"Oh." Jake said, and Finn walked over with the blue sphere.

"What's this crazy jazz?" Finn said, pulling out another sphere which was green.

"Well, I really invented those. I gave it a nuclear core, so it glows on its own. Careful, don't break them, or the kingdom will explode!"

Finn gently placed them down on the floor, and backed away, suddenly nervous. Jake also backed away from the possibly explosive spheres.

"Maybe we shouldn't use them then." Finn said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

PB nodded. "Ok. They were more of an experiment than an actual decoration. I sort of expected them to explode on creation anyways."

"So why are we decorating in here anyway?" Jake asked, walking over to the table and getting out the glowing lights, before stretching up to the ceiling and arranging them in an interesting pattern.

"Well…I thought that we could all have dinner together. You know, for celebrations."

Finn and Jake grinned. This was exactly what PB would do. After all, she was nice.

They couldn't wait for the celebrations to begin.


	8. On the Eighth day of Christmas

**The true meaning of the celebrations**

Jake was sitting on the couch in the treehouse, fast asleep. His mouth, unfortunately, was wide open, and he was snoring pretty loudly. So loudly, in fact, that Finn had got fed up really quickly and left to go on a quest for Princess Bubblegum. She had wanted the two to go and find the red amulet which acted as a pair with her blue amulet that Finn found under…mysterious…circumstances a week earlier. However, Jake had conveniently fallen asleep before they could decide when to go and where to start looking.

As Jake slept, he began to dream. Ironically, he dreamt that he was sitting on a couch in the treehouse.

There was a noise coming from the corner of the room, and Jake awoke with a start. He momentarily thought that it was strange, since Jake was never a light sleeper, but his head felt somehow fuzzy, and he walked over to the corner to see what the noise was. To his surprise, he saw that there was a small snowball sitting in the corner, and it seemed to be crying. Jake bent over.

"Hey guy, what's wrong?" Jake said, tapping the snowball. The snowball turned around and Jake fell over as he saw that the snowball had the face of Finn.

"I…I…I just wanted to go on an adventure with my bro…" the Finn-Snowball said, and even as it spoke the mouth began to melt. Jake grabbed at the mouth, which was still crying, and the mouth melted faster until all that was left was a puddle of water. Jake didn't respond for a couple of seconds, then he reached a shaky hand over to the water, whispering 'F…Finn?' over and over, and as he touched the water he gasped and withdrew it suddenly. It was boiling hot. The puddle began to bubble, and grew in size. Jake scooted backwards to escape the puddle of boiling water, and once it had reached a wide-ish circle before it started to grow upwards until it was about the same height as Finn. The difference was that this was a female figure that Jake recognised as the head materialised in water-form.

"Flame Princess?" Jake squeaked as the girl opened her mouth to speak.

"Jaaaaaake. Jaaaaaaaaaaaaake." she said, in a husky tone. Water spilled from her mouth and down onto the floor, where drops hit Jake all over his legs. The almost-molten water burned like crazy, and Jake winced at the burning sensation.

"What do you want?" he said, trying not to sound scared and failing.

"You have dishonoured your family, Jaaaaake."

"Wh-what?" Jake said, genuinely confused.

"Jake." Flame Princess said, suddenly gaining control of her normal voice. "Listen. This is a dream."

Jake stopped. Actually, that made more sense.

"Well then, can I just go back to sleep?"

Flame Princess (or dream Flame Princess, as she was) shot a jet of red-hot water at Jake's cheek, causing him to yelp in pain and rub the affected area.

"No, dummy. Listen to me. You have upset F- um, your family. Watch."

Jake looked around. "Um, watch what exactly?"

FP grinned viciously, and glided over to Jake, and tapped him on the forehead. Jake closed his eyes in pain, and gripped his head. When the headache subsided, he looked up and gasped. He was still standing next to Flame Princess, but now he was in the middle of the desert.

"How…how…" Jake stammered, shocked.

"Ha ha, it's a dream. Anything can happen in a dream." FP said.

"O-oh." Jake said in final understanding. "So like the time I dreamed that a sandwich was chasing me across the candy kingdom, and it turned out to be Princess Bubblegum, and-"

Flame Princess placed a finger over Jake's mouth, which (strangely) didn't burn.

"Sh. Can you hear that?"

Jake opened his ear, and yes, he could hear something. He could hear the sound of clashing swords and yells.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Wanna go and find out?" Flame Princess said with a grin. Before Jake could answer, FP had clicked her fingers and Jake was in a cavern. It was full to the brim with skeleton monsters, each with a dagger or sword of some kind. Jake found that he and FP were floating above the brawl. At the centre of the action, Jake realised with horror, was Finn. He was hopelessly outnumbered, and was covered with bruises and cuts. The look of concentration on his face broke Jake's heart. He registered FP saying something, but didn't understand. But he listened pretty soon as FP walked into his field of vision.

"This is what happened when your brother left to adventure without you. You left him for sleep which you didn't need, and now Finn is getting injured."

Jake shook his head and looked utterly traumatised as FP clicked her fingers and brought them both back home.

"Do you understand, Jake? The true meaning of the celebrations?"

"Bu…Buddy…" Jake said, shaking a lot from the vision.

"JAKE."

Jake swallowed. "Yes, yes, yes, I shouldn't have done it! My bro NEEDS me and I NEED him! Almighty spirit, bring my buddy back!" Jake said, waving his arms around and falling to the floor in a frenzy at the end.

"Gees, dog, I'm only a vision spirit. Plus, I can't do anything. Goodnight, Jake!" Flame Princess – or, as she is rightly known, the ghost of guilt – evaporated into thin air, as Jake made a grab for the boiling maiden. Jake felt his shoulders shaking, and put it down to uncontrollable sobbing, but then his shoulders began to move violently, and Jake opened his eyes WIDE.

Jake was lying on the couch in the treehouse, a concerned – and unharmed – Finn standing over him and shaking his shoulders. Jake have a cry of thankfulness and grabbed his brother around the neck.

"Oh Finn, I'm so sorry, I'll never let you go and battle skeletons all by yourself again!" he sobbed.

"Gah – you're…chocking…me!" Finn said, and Jake sank back onto the couch. "What's all that about, bro?"

Jake wiped away the tears, embarrassed. "Weren't you in danger?"

Finn laughed. "Na man, I went and got that red amulet PB wanted. It was in the sand caves. Deserted. No biggie."

Jake almost passed out with thankfulness. "I thought you were in danger…"

"Nope. But hey, at least your guilt woke you up."

Jake didn't seem to hear this. "So close to the winter celebration…it would have sucked without you, Finn…"

Finn put his arm around the dog, sitting down on the couch next to him. "I have to say, it would suck without you too, dude. You're my family, and I would do anything for my bro."

Jake looked up, eyes wide. "Me too, bro. Me too. After all," he said, answering the spirit from his dream, "Family is the true meaning of the celebrations."

From behind the couch, a grey spirit laid hidden, closing her eyes and nodding, her job done for another year.

**A/N: Hey! Hope you liked the one-shot! Guess who has been reading 'A Christmas Carol'?**

**Thank you for sticking with me and my unreliable upload ways. I was meant to upload one a day up till Christmas, but I kept forgetting…yeah. But, thank you for forgiving me and reading on even when I leave out many days of one-shots.**

**Big thanks and warm hugs to my reviewers HenryTheExorcist, Mythical CreaturesLover, mysterious 'Guest' and especially 'I am The7' for supporting me through the chapters. Thanks guys! Have some cake (sorry, no ice-cream in it. If anyone actually can make an Ice Cream Cake, please send me the recipe!)**

**Also, this was meant to be uploaded yesterday. Sorry again! Today's is supposed to be uploaded instead of this, but I…kinda haven't written it yet. I'll try to have it finished by the end of the day today. Again, sorry. Hold on, your day nine is coming!**

**Have fun!**

**Wolfie-V**


	9. On the Ninth day of Christmas

**When your family come a-knocking**

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The court members of the fire kingdom covered their ears at their Flame Queen's screaming. Many ran to hide behind the various corners that were scattered throughout the castle in some sort of strategic pattern. The entire kingdom braced itself for the second scream, which didn't disappoint them as it arrived a few seconds later.

In between the screams, two of the court guards were having a conversation.

"Dude, what's up with the screams?" said one, covering his ears in preparation.

"WHAT? Oh, they stopped. Didn't you hear, man? The new Flame King is inviting all the royal family over for the winter celebrations."

"What's that?"

The second guard gave the first a look of confusion and shrugged. He didn't know either.

Back in the royal hall, Flame Princess (as honestly she preferred to be called) was running around with molten lava strings, throwing them desperately around the room, hoping that they would stick to the rows of chairs and the table in the centre. Once more, she ran out of strings to throw around, and let out another ear-splitting scream. The ex-Flame King (who was still in that too-small jar) got the full blast of it and covered his ears best he could – failing miserably.

"Daughter! I demand that you stop this ridiculous screaming!"

Flame Princess stood still and whipped around to her father. Her bangs flew around with her, whipping each cheek on her face.

"Father. You have NO authority here."

"But surly you can see how pointless it is for us evil beings to celebrate something as GOOD as winter celebrations!"

Flame Princess pointed her finger at her father, and scowled.

"You forget your place, father. I am the new Flame King, and you obey ME now, regardless of blood. You will celebrate with me and the castle, or perish at the bottom of the ocean."

Flame King drew in a long breath and slumped down inside the jar. Flame Princess smirked, and resumed needless panicking.

"Oh my glob, oh my glob, oh my glob" she muttered, throwing junk all around the room in order to look for more decorations. She couldn't find any – after all, the last celebrations that this kingdom had was when she was born, and after questioning the staff she discovered that most decorations were watered after she was locked up.

She bent to pick up what looked like a yellow banner, and froze. She spun around on the point of her obsidian black shoe and counted the chairs. A bead of lava formed on her forehead as she counted again. No…that couldn't be right…there were only 9 chairs. AND THERE WERE 10 PEOPLE ARRIVING. IN LESS THAN 60 MINUTES.

Flame Princess let out another scream, and this time the walls seemed to visibly shake.

"No, calm down, calm down. There has to be another chair."

She ran out the door, slipping slightly on a red streamer, and ran into the storage room. To her luck, there was a chair in the corner of the room. Against her luck, it was behind a massive barrel. She took a deep breath and ran up to the barrel, before jumping as high as she could in her royal suit – which was pretty much as heavy as armour. What she has envisioned in her head was her doing a high leap and somersaulting over the barrel, landing neatly on her feet. What actually happened was she tripped in the run up and jumped not-very-high before hitting her side on the barrel, knocking the breath out of her and rendering her unable to move for at least 15 minutes. After some time, she stood up and calmly walked up to the barrel and crawling over it, before throwing the chair back and crawling over the barrel back out again.

"Right." FP said, taking a deep breath as she placed the chair alongside the others in the throne room. She turned back to the junk pile, calm air regained, and accidently caught sight of her reflection in a mirror.

She let out let ANOTHER scream.

"Ow." said the ex-Flame King, as he rubbed his ears. They were ringing very loudly.

"I LOOK HIDEOUS!" she yelled. Here hair was all over the place, and her royal outfit was ripped in several places. She ran out of the room again, and entered her bedroom. Since she because the ruler, it no longer looked like a prison cell, and instead looked more like a liveable bedroom. She rummaged through the drawer in a panic, and found her flame-brush. It easily tamed the hair, and made it look more like the hair of an organised leader. She found her tiara and placed it on her head.

"Huh." she said, calmed a lot more now. "Not bad."

She went to her cupboard and found another royal dress. It was obsidian black, in order to match her shoes. She quickly put it on, and checked the time.

"OH NO!" she yelled, holding back another scream. They were due to arrive in mere minutes and, being fire people, they ALWAYS arrived exactly on time. She stared into the mirror for a second, and as usual, her eyes glinted and ignited on their own, glowing a bright red – as was custom in the fire kingdom royalty. She took a deep breath to compose herself – not a second too soon, as one of the guards entered the room.

"Your Highness, the guests have arrived."

Flame Princess thanked them and walked out the door behind them.

This was it. She was going to celebrate with her family.

"Good luck FP." she whispered to herself, as she seated herself at the head of the table to wait. Finally, a proper celebration face to face with her relatives.

**A/N: I did it! Enjoy Day 9! **


	10. On the Tenth Day of Christmas

**A mysterious friend arrives again**

Ice King sat on his recliner in his ice palace. After returning to his kingdom to find that it was pretty much exactly as it was before it was destroyed (but better – everything was restored to its former glory, meaning that his chair was back to normal), Ice King had promptly fallen asleep on the recliner for a while. Once he had woken up, he got to writing his fanfiction, captured multiple princesses (who were released by Finn and Jake), yelled at Gunther many, many times and eventually became bored and sat back on the chair.

"Dang, I'm bored" he exclaimed to the empty room. Unsurprisingly, he didn't get a response, so he said it again, slightly louder this time. With still no response, Ice King stood up and stretched. He went over to the table and picked up his crown, which he put on his head. Momentarily he looked over to the pile of clothes on the floor, which needed washing REALLY badly, before shrugging and muttering 'Gunther can do it', then he flew out of the window.

He flew around his kingdom for a while, which did nothing to ease his boredom, before landing on the border with the sea. The snow of his kingdom gradually melted here and became large ice cubes floating in a freezing sea. Not that Ice King noticed the cold. He dipped his bare feet in the water, and sighed. Even though he knew that Finn and Jake disliked his company slightly, he still missed having company and living with people (Gunther didn't count). And Abracadaniel had gone back to his own home, embarrassed after the incident with Kee Oth the demon.

"I wish I had someone to talk to." Ice King sighed, wishing out loud. There was a creaking sound, and Ice King turned his head towards it. He noticed an ice cube which had broken away from the rest, and was floating towards to land just to the left of where Ice King was sitting. Ice King stood up, and walked over to where the ice cube had landed. After all, it seemed more interesting than just sitting there wallowing. Ice King used his powers to make the ice clearer so he could see inside, and was surprised at what he saw.

"Oh my glob. It's…it's a dude!" he said, pressing himself up against the ice to get a better view. The guy was around the same height as Ice King, but he was a lot chubbier. Surprisingly, the dude also had the same white beard as Ice King himself, and wore the same style of clothing as him, except that it was a bright red instead of blue.

"Woah…" Ice King said. "This guy is RIPPING OFF MY STYLE!"

Using his powers once more, Ice King destroyed the ice enclosure surrounding the man in one single 'crack!' The man fell to the floor, and became half-buried in the snow. Ice King poked him with his toes.

"Hey bro. You dead or what?"

The man groaned, and turned over. His face was one giant bruise, and he appeared to have some teeth missing. His eyes widened as he saw pretty much the exact mirror image of himself staring back at him.

"Who are you, then?" he said in a deep voice.

"Who…am…I? Ice King said, angered. "Only the most powerful wizard in all of Ooo!"

"I see. Give me your hand."

Ice King looked at him suspiciously. "Uh, what?"

The man laughed a deep, jolly laugh that made him grip his stomach and seem to wobble all over.

"I am also a wizard, blue one. Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit. I would just like to see who you are _inside._"

"O…k…" Ice King said, holding out his hand as well. The man took his hand and used it to sit up. It was quite soft, but held many wrinkles in it simultaneously.

Ice King was suddenly filled with an overwhelmingly large sense of joy, making him want to jump around and sing for no apparent reason. Ice King whipped his hand back in shock. The man in red was looking at him with a look of confusion.

"That's strange…there seems to be something blocking your inner feelings, but I can sense that you are a good man…um…?"

Ice King realised that he had yet to give his name and receive this man's name.

"Oh, I'm Ice King. What's your name? You must give it to me. After all, you _are_ in my kingdom."

The red man chuckled and stood up.

"Well well well, Ice King, I have many names, but you may call me Nick."

Ice King thought 'That's a silly name. If he wants to be a well-known wizard like me, he needs to have a cool name.' but out loud he said "Ok Nick, you know I have my own castle, and lots of penguins. It gets pretty lonely here in my kingdom…"

Nick laughed again. "All right Ice King, I'll visit your home."

"Brilliant!" Ice King said, beaming. With that, h began to float into the air, forgetting that Nick couldn't fly, until he looked down and saw Nick standing there.

"Uh…you want a ride, pal?" he said awkwardly.

"No no, I'll be fine." Nick said, and clicked his fingers. Ice King shrugged, and flew off to his castle. It didn't take more than a few minutes, but when he flew through the window he saw Nick sitting on his recliner and smiling.

"What…you…YOU'RE SITTING ON MY RECLINER!" he said, and Nick stood up and brushed himself off.

"Sorry friend, it just looked so comforting."

Ice King went to the door, and signalled Nick to follow him.

"Hey Nick, you just HAVE to see my room. It's so cool!"

Nick nodded and smiled a slow smile, before following Ice King to his room. Once the got there, Ice King turned around and said to Nick "Oo, I've just had the best idea! I have a game we can play…you know, I carved the game pieces from my own teeth…stay there, friend!"

With that, Ice King flew out the room. Nick smiled and sat down on the bed, pulling something out from his pocket.

A minute later, Ice King flew back to his room. Nick was gone. There was a gift, however, sitting on the bed. Ice King opened it in confusion, and read the card. The card read

'Dear Simon, I know that you are often lonely, so I have left you a little gift. Nick.'

Ice King unwrapped the box, and saw that it was an invite to Princess Bubblegum's annual winter celebrations. Ice King couldn't have been more shocked – how did this get here, and why would he be invited? There was another small box inside, and Ice King naively opened this. A cloud of blue smoke drifted out, and Ice King found himself unable to remember the past hour. All he knew was that he was bored, and now he had a ticket to company in his hands. He re-read the card, and it now read

'Dear Ice King, I know that you can get lonely, so why not join us for the winter celebrations? From, Princess Bubblegum.'

Outside the window, Nick smiled to himself. It had taken many years, but finally, he knew that Simon would be happy.

After all, wasn't that the job of Santa?

**A/N: Are you getting into the spirit of Christmas yet? This was a longer chapter than I had intended, but I needed to fit it all in.**

**Merry Christmas everyone! Has anyone guessed what the Great Christmas Extravaganza will be yet? One person has, and so as not to spoil it for everyone I will keep their identity a secret, but I will congratulate them here. CONGRATULATIONS!**

**TOMORROWS STORY: HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO AAA **


	11. On the Eleventh Day of Christmas

**How Christmas came to Aaa**

Fionna sat on the couch, an expression of fierce concentration on her face, tapping away at BMO's controller pad. The tune coming from BMO's speakers got louder and louder until the notes jarred together, making it hard to listen to. Fionna pressed the buttons quicker and quicker, and her tongue lolled out of her mouth. At this point, Cake walked in with a bowl of ice-cream.

"Fionna." she said, slightly bored, took a scoop of ice-cream from the bowl with her hand. Fionna herself ignored Cake and continued to press the buttons, occasionally whispering words like 'Go, go!' and 'Jump, idiot!'

"It's getting pretty late. Maybe we should go to sleep now."

Cake looked up from her bowl of ice-cream. Fionna still tapped at the buttons, and the 8-bit tune still blared from BMO. She walked over to Fionna, and tapped her sister on the shoulder.

"Fionna."

No response – just the tapping of buttons.

"Fionna!"

Still nothing. Suddenly, the tune stopped, and was replaced with a more insistent tune with lower notes. Fionna threw her arm in the air, hitting Cake in the face accidently, and yelled "BOSS FIGHT!" She then leaned over closer to the screen and frantically pushed all the buttons on the controller. Cake rubbed her face where Fionna had hit her. It felt bruised. Cake scowled at the back of her sister's head, and put the bowl of ice-cream on the table next to BMO. Fionna didn't respond. Cake looked down at the floor, and shuffled out of the room to the stairs.

A few hours later, a high pitched tune came from BMO's speakers. "YEAH! I'M THE ADVENTURE MASTER!" Fionna screamed, dropping the control pad on the floor. BMO's face blinked off the winning screen and onto his face.

"Fionna, there is a bowl of ice-cream next to my circuits and making my butt cold." he said. Fionna stopped pumping her fist in the air and looked at the table. There was a baby blue bowl on the table with a puddle of melted ice-cream in it. A lonely spoon lay next to it. Fionna picked up the spoon, and sighed. She looked out the window, and could see that it was night-time.

"Cake!" she shouted, cupping her hands to her mouth. Her voice echoed around the silent treehouse. Fionna checked the kitchen, before going up to the bedroom.

"Cake?"

The room was empty. Clothes were scattered all around the room, and the drawer which Cake slept in was empty. The photo of her and Lord was also missing. Fionna raced to the drawer. There was a note attached to the wooden base.

'Fionna' it read. 'I've gone to stay at Mochro's for a while. Have fun playing BMO. Cake.'

Fionna stared at the note. What was Cake thinking? Why would she leave the treehouse? There seemed no reason behind it. Unless…Fionna cast her mind back to the past few hours. She had been playing BMO for a while…and that ice-cream bowl hadn't been there when she started playing…

"No." Fionna whispered. She raced out the door downstairs, ignoring BMO's cry of "Fionna? Where are you going?" and into the night. She ran across the dark green field that was the grasslands.

"Cake!" Fionna yelled. She rubbed her elbows. Maybe she should have put on some warmer clothes. She looked up at the sky. It was full of clouds. As she stared into the dark sky, the first flakes of snow began to fall down over the grass. A tear fell from her eyes. Right now, she should have been cuddled up with Cake and BMO (possibly with Gumball and Marshall), watching films. But instead, she had ignored the one person who cared most for her, and ruined their day. She looked back for the treehouse – and it was gone. No lights were to be seen except or the occasional star poking through the clouds. Fionna sighed, and sat down on the ground. Great. Now everything was ruined. The snow fell much more rapidly now. Fionna lay back and rested her head on the frozen ground, where the snow was already beginning to settle. Fionna was just closing her eyes, when a sudden gust of wind blew across her face, blowing her blonde hair across her eyes. Fionna instinctively brushed it back, and opened her eyes again. To her surprise, she was looking straight into the eyes of the Ice Queen.

"Fionna? You dead yet?"

Fionna sighed in exasperation, and sat upright.

"Ice Queen. What do you want?"

"Oh, I was just flying past, looking for a new prince to marry, and I saw you on the floor. I was just gonna help you, but gees, if you're gonna be like that…"

Fionna looked at the Ice Queen with a steely gaze. The Ice Queen smiled slowly, before throwing her arms up.

"Ok, ok! I was looking for you."

"May I ask why?"

"I saw Cake. She was on the border between the Ice Kingdom and the grasslands. She looked upset, and when I talked to her she went back to the treehouse. I figured it was something to do with you, so here I am."

Fionna brushed the snow off her hat.

"Ok, great. So what now? We're both lost."

"Oh, yeah. Maybe not my best plan."

Fionna slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "So we're both gonna die now. Brilliant."

Fionna curled back up on the floor as shivered. She turned her back to the Ice Queen, and clutched her knees. Ice Queen sneered momentarily, then her expression softened, and she knelt down next to Fionna and placed an arm over Fionna's back. Fionna jumped, and looked at Ice Queen, who was smiling. A real smile – warm, in contrast to her cold nature.

"What are you doing?" Fionna asked, suspicious straight away.

"A long time ago, I knew someone who was alone and cold. I…think anyway. Yeah, and they were such a wimp! But…they needed help. And I think you do to, right?"

Fionna smiled back at the Ice Queen. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Ice Queen, I need help."

Ice Queen smiled, and picked Fionna up.

"So, let's get back to your treehouse the, yeah?"

An hour later, Fionna was on the couch playing BMO. But this time, Cake was alongside her sister, cuddling her and giving advice on the game they were playing. Gumball was in the kitchen baking cinnamon cookies for them to eat, and Marshall Lee was sitting on the floor with Ice Queen playing a card game. A fire was roaring in the corner, and the air was filled with the sweet scent of burning wood.

"Hey everyone, we should do this again next week!" Ice Queen said

Cake looked at Fionna, and the sisters shared a glance. "Maybe not." Cake said.

"But…maybe next year?" Fionna said with a smile.

"Ok yeah!" Ice Queen said, as Marshall put down an ace and smiled a cheeky smile at the Ice Queen, signalling the end of the game. Just as he did, Gumball walked in, wearing a huge pink sweater.

"Who wants cookies?" he said with a grin.

**A/N: One more sleep until Christmas! Who's excited? I am! **


	12. On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

**Merry Christmas everybody!**

**WARNING: Mild pairings included. **

Princess Bubblegum finished setting out the places around the table. The decorations were up, all the food was ready (done traditionally, unlike the experiments which failed miserably) and people were going to start arriving soon. She had sent out many invitations, even to the Ice King (although she didn't remember writing one, she received the reply slip from him, so she must have done.)

The doors swung open, and the first people arrived. Finn, Jake and Marceline the Vampire Queen walked in, all wearing thick jumpers and carrying gifts.

"Happy Winter, guys!" PB said, waving from the other side of the hall.

"Happy Winter, PB!" Finn yelled, running over and slipping up on the floor, before standing up again and placing his gifts around the table in the right places. Jake did the same (after wishing PB a happy winter) and sat down in his place, already hungry for food.

"Happy winter, Bonnie" Marceline said, walking over to the princess. She handed the princess a gift, and PB took it and placed it by her place.

"Thanks, Marceline!" she said, and Marceline blushed.

There were footsteps at the door, as the rest of the guests walked in. Among them were Tree Trunks, Lady Rainicorn, Ice King and Lumpy Space Princess (who floated over to her place and immediately looked bored).

Last to walk in was Flame Princess. She looked nervous, but was trying not to show it. She tried to look as non-conspicuous as possible as she walked over to her tin-foil covered seat. Soon everybody was seated around the table, and waiting for their food.

About an hour later, everybody was eating their food, and idly chatting. Ice King was attempting (once more) to make himself seem appealing to Princess Bubblegum, Marceline was talking to Jake about the last adventure they went on together with Finn to the sand kingdom, and Finn was looking down at his plate, looking more than a little uncomfortable. PB pushed the Ice King in the face to shut him up, and stood up.

"Attention all!"

Everyone fell silent to listen to the Princess.

"Thank you for coming to celebrate the winter festivities with us. Even though some of us here today have travelled many miles to get here, I am glad that you all made the journey. Now, let the celebrations begin!"

Everyone cheered and raised their glasses. Princess Bubblegum opened her mouth to speak again.

"First, let us open presents that we have received from everybody today. Let the gift opening commence!"

There was an uproar as people began to talk at the tops of their voices. Jake ripped the wrapping off of his first gift from Lady. It was a cake making machine of Lady's own design, and Jake was thrilled with it as he hugged and smooched Lady Rainicorn. Princess Bubblegum opened her gift from Marceline, but did not reveal what it was to the rest of the guests. She was obviously happy with it, as she blushed and grinned as Marceline, who held up a hand as if to say 'It's nothing'.

Opposite Finn at the table was Flame Princess. She couldn't really taste the food, and as such could not join in the conversations about the food, and she had received no gifts as of yet, and so this time was a little pointless for her. She sighed and thought of her family. THAT meal didn't go very well. Her cousins had got into an argument over who would overtake their father as Flame King in their kingdom, her aunt and uncle had yelled at her for changing the rules so much, and her brother had talked non-stop about his violence training in a far off land – all the places he had destroyed, etc. It had given her a headache. This was just about the complete opposite to that – no-one had said one word to her since she had arrived.

Eventually, the gift opening had finished. PB stood up again and got everybody's attention.

"Now everyone – it is time for the dancing!"

Everyone cheered and stood up. Marceline drifted to the stage and pulled out her bass from behind a speaker. She pulled out the pick her father had given her and tied it with a piece of string to her finger. She wouldn't use it, but is comforted her to know it was there. People crowded the dance floor as Marceline strummed the first chords to her song, and as she began to sing the upbeat track, people began to dance like mad. The only ones left sitting at the table were Flame Princess and Finn. Since they were opposite each other, it was slightly awkward, and they didn't look each other in the eye. Finn stood up and moved to the other side of the table to where the dance floor was. Flame Princess sighed and laid her head on her hands. There was a tap on her shoulder and a faint sizzle. She jumped and turned around. Finn was standing right behind her, the usual grin on his face. Flame princess put on a fake smile. After all, they had parted friends, hadn't they?

"Hey Finn." she said, keeping her tone even.

"Hey." he said, blushing slightly. Oh glob, she thought, this was going to be awkward.

"I…I know you don't really celebrate winter, but…I got you something…" Finn said, looking down and blushing even more. He reached to the chair beside him, and pulled out a ball wrapped in newspaper. He held it out to her, and she took it, burning the paper off as she did so. To her shock, she felt herself blushing. 'No, no!' she thought. 'This boy is a liar! Don't show you still have feelings for him!'

The paper burnt away, and she saw finally what the gift was. It was an orb, but not just any orb. Finn may not have understood what it was, but she knew. It was an emotion orb. They took the emotions of two people and merged them in an orb, so that when the two people got close together the energy was sparked, giving an amazing light show inside the orb. Just as predicted, the orb began to glow bright blue and bright red, the droplets of liquid emotion sparkling and spraying the inside of the orb.

"Oh." was all she could say, and the orb grew brighter. "Thank you, Finn."

Finn smiled and Flame princess couldn't help but smile back. They smiled at each other for a while, until they noticed that the music had stopped and a slower track was being played by a tape. Everybody had paired up and was dancing around the room. Finn held out his arm and FP shrunk back.

"Hey, it's cool. As friends, right?"

FP took his arm. "As friends."

As night fell, the last guests began to leave until only Finn, Jake and PB were left.

"Wow PB, you really know how to throw a great party." Jake said, eating the last slice of cake on the table. Naturally, it was his ice-cream cake (made with the help of Lady the day before).

"Well, you know, I had a lot of help from my friends." PB replied, smiling.

And eventually even Finn and Jake left too. And as the first stars came out and the first flakes of snow fell over a silent kingdom, the people of Ooo fell asleep one by one.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

**Did you enjoy it? Turns out, it wasn't a bunch of one-shots, but they actually had an overall purpose! Sorry for the deceit **

**Congratulations to 'The Mysterious Wizard' for correctly guessing the plotline of this chapter and giving me the idea to have Marceline provide some of the music for the celebrations. Thank you!**

**Merry Christmas AT fans! Have a great rest of the year!**


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